1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile, a multiple-function machine, etc., which includes a receiving tray formed under another structure, and more particularly the present invention is directed to such an image forming apparatus which can control the output of paper sheets onto the receiving tray.
2. Discussion of the Background
It is known in image forming apparatuses to incorporate a receiving tray which leans upwards from a base-end to a front-end to contact a wall. The base-end of the receiving tray is located at a paper discharge outlet and at a wall of a main body of the image forming apparatus. When paper sheets are discharged onto this receiving tray edges of the discharged paper sheets are stacked and aligned with the wall of the main body of the image forming apparatus. In such a device a maximum height of the stacked paper sheets is essentially equal to a height from the base end of the receiving tray to the paper discharge outlet.
Furthermore, as image forming apparatuses become more compact, a structural member may be formed above the receiving tray. For example, an automatic document feeder or a scanner may be formed above the receiving tray. In this type of machine with a structural member formed above the receiving tray, an amount of the stacked paper sheets is limited to have a thickness of the gap height from a top of the receiving tray to the structural member formed above the receiving tray. Further, if such a receiving tray is angled from the paper discharge outlet upward, if long sized paper sheets are discharged onto the receiving tray, the height of the stack of long paper sheets is even further reduced. This results because the edge of such stacked long paper sheets will be at an area where the gap height between a top of the receiving tray and the structural member formed above the receiving tray is further reduced. Moreover, in such a device if long paper sheets are discharged onto the receiving tray the long paper sheets may become jammed between the receiving tray and the structural member formed above the receiving tray because the gap height at the edges of the long paper sheets may be less than a distance from a bottom of the receiving tray to the paper discharge outlet.